The whole world had been talking about doomsday during this New Year when quite a lot of people are seen celebrating New Year so much as if this is the last New Year they’ve got. Is this really going to end this time?
I am not a great believer of any calendar be it Mayan or Indian. But there are quite a few things that I would like to bring it across. Let’s leave alone the fact or myth that world will end this year but can we try to evaluate the facts that we have & the observations of great men before us?
Let’s start with what is a Yuga. A yuga is an era within the cycle of four ages. The four ages being Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga & Kali Yuga. All this is caused and controlled by the stars revolving and rushing above our heads. The end described in some of the spiritual Hindu texts share that it will start raining continuously until everything is flooded and drowned. By this time the people’s mind would have been corrupted beyond repair. The seeds would have given up giving more fruits. But do you think we are yet there? Can this whole happen in another few months? They say that the four ages will be work in a circular manner. Once the Kali Yuga is completed, it will again start with Satya Yuga.

The planetarium software had helped to date the existence of Rama based on Valmiki Ramayana to somewhere in 5000+ BC. King Rama is still considered one of the best men to live in India considering his warring feats and administration. This is written into every Hindu’s brains as soon as they are born. People have excavated and located Dwaraka under water as described by the Mahabharata. Satellite pictures had shown the existence of Nala Sethu bridge under water connection India to present day Lanka & much more which is proving that it all existed long back. Some of the mythology classified texts had been turning into big bulky history books. Most things that people are finding out now had been found and used millions of years ago by humans as seen in Pyramid and other megalithic architectures and much more from the excavated facts.

Are we lacking something to understand and accept it all to be real? Yes, we are. It has become human nature to question everything that they cannot digest and disprove if they cannot prove. The Mayan calendar talks about world ending in 2012 due to many things. People who understand and talk about tectonic plate shifting which in turn causes a pole shift for the earth also believes in the same. There are quite a few evidences still left in this world that shows that there was an ice age with wooly mammoth and similar animals. There was an age with dinosaurs and men who were 15foot tall. All this had been found and examined, but still the same bunch doesn’t support a polar shift. What else would have caused a quick shuffle of the world if not for earth herself moving her internals? There are evidences left of lot of civilizations being swallowed by the sea across the world. People are also talking about the lost continents in Lemuria & Kumari Kandam and much more. Are we actually turning blind or is it really the start of perish?

Every religious text in case you are a religious person talks about the world ending and a new beginning in which their hero God starts everything for them all over again. Let’s not debate about God this time but do you actually think there has to be something to do with everything ending and starting all over again. Another interesting thing to note is that all the texts also talks about flood and continuous rain which is also the case as described as the end of Kali Yuga. Tsunami’s which started hitting the present day world in near past was unknown to present day intelligent homo-sapiens but well written and documented in tamil scriptures explaining the tsunami which ate away a big chunk of prosperous land few thousand years ago.

In case your spare time allows, read the interesting not of Kali Yuga on Wikipedia and see whether it matches with present day situation in India.(Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga). By the way we have great analysts and credible scientists in all industries in this earth. They had predicted that there won’t be any havoc this year and earth is not expecting any shock. Gist of it is business as usual. But remember we also had at least 500% more financial analysts and geeks who could not even predict a global slowdown and recession in 2008 when everything was rosy. To decide whom to trust is one’s personal matter which I don’t want to persuade.

Predicted doomsday is 21 December, 2012 which might just come and go like another day if we all got lucky and our kids luckier. A similar catastrophe was predicted in May 2003 in the form a planet heading towards earth to collide. It is end of cycle in Mayan calendar in Winter of 2012 too. NASA claims that it will be a normal day and year and earth will continue to exist in their websites.(NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html). If you believe in international politics and role of India in discovery and research, the Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser written 2012 movie would look damn real.

As per astrology, a solar eclipse is predicted on 13th November 2012 and a lunar eclipse on 28th November 2012. It is expected that the effect of these two back to back eclipse’s can cause earthquakes, floods, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions as mentioned in some of the studies. But this is not going to be end of world. It could be just another bad day for we earth inhabitants as it had happened in recent past.
As per world politics, considering the pace at which terrorism is heading and people/countries forming for and against it in groups, we could also expect a world war III, which could really be devastating given the weapons some countries possess. No one could predict when but if not handled carefully such issues which are at times religious in foundation, having political pillars and nuclear roofs could not be stopped. Anyone going against it or country for that matter would be isolated and could even be attacked equally from all fronts. The story of climate control & global warming would be forgotten during the battle for power and prestige. Remember that nuclear weapons when used can cause such effects that even the creators can’t predict by even eradicating a whole race. There are evidences of use of nuclear weapons in ancient warfare available in the present day earth. Will man himself bring the doomsday by such foolish acts?

As a matter of fact, anything can happen anytime to anyone. So let’s not worry too much whether world would end but think about what best we can do today when we are all alive and together. To get started, I would recommend you to do good research on following topics to know more about what happened to earth and on earth. I would also recommend you to look for things before 0 BC and not after that. There can be lot of fabrications involving foreign bodies and powerful organizations otherwise.

Trust me you would be fascinated!

a. Megalithic Structures
b. Alien life on earth
c. Lemuria
d. Aztecs
e. Atlantis
f. Peru secrets
g. Rama empire
h. World energy grids
i. Lost continents
j. Kumari Kandam
k. Ancient Civilizations
l. Tamil Texts
m. Sanskrit Language
n. Hinduism
o. Pagan worshippers

The greatest memories that we treasure had always been from our childhood. When we happen to crash onto an old childhood friend most times we get a wave a events in our thoughts which had happened years back. That very night most of us would love to sleep early to dream about those days. Our age at this time is forgotten and doesn't affect. Our mention about past experiences and memories are ubiquitous in all forms of conversations. As great men always said, you should be child when it comes to learning. The key attribute that a child or baby possess is observation skills which we overlook as we get older. We overlook this considering the pattern that is build in our brain based on our observations as a baby, child and adult. We tend to assume as we get older and consider ourselves more wise than the next generation.

I think I had been floating around my topic without actually catching the flag. Let me come to my subject for the day which is impact of TV, Internet & Computers on us. By the way I am not discussing here to throw away all those boxes which you had bought worth big bucks. But I am talking about wise use of it and to make them feel the nature which we once did. There is a connection between every child who was brought up in India few years back and nature. This connection is something that cannot be explained in the few words that I know from schools. This association with nature is what is missing in most of the children today.

Every kid until they reach 8-10years old, you can find them in front of TV once they start perceiving few things. Parents actually are more relaxed due to this habit since they could find time for other house hold chores. If you ask any kid around 2-3yrs old he/she would have a favorite song, favorite actor, favorite cartoon and many more favorites. Do you think this is by chosen from many? No this is chosen from what elders decide them to see. It might be good or bad, it depends on the exposure every kid receives and what their parents want.

This is something we could work on make it better by guiding them to perceive good things and enhance their knowledge on the nature. When I say nature, I am not talking about National Geographic or Discovery channel but to bring them out of their house. You could see that most kids are happy this way. They enjoy being outside their houses or flats. The want to feel more things. This urge to feel more things is not for pleasure but to learn, the obsession to learn. Take it as tip to reduce your utilities bill too. This helps the mental growth of children and the data they collect at such a young age will always be with them.

Now what happens when they grow older around 8-10. This is when kids now get completely exposed to computer and internet. It is really great to know computer and internet at such young age. He/She don't need to spend much time getting it handy in later stages of life. Every parent would love them to be computer wizards. But playing games really making them that? It is good to play computer games as per some studies since it helps you develop you brain, reflex, this, that and many more. It is equally or may be more significant to spend quality time outside with friends playing a game of their choice. Which helps in building the team work into your veins. It is important that kids actually realize the fact that life is all about team work, be it with family, friends or work. It really matters to know how to mingle and be best at that. Again this is where you feel your nature and bond with people. This is where you create memories which you would once cherish.

What will be in your treasured memory container when your childhood is in front of computer playing that x game? Will it be filled with you shooting down 100 bots? It should not be that silly. We should engage in such activities during late evenings or early mornings when you really cannot do anything outside. Whenever you get a chance you should and even promote your children to feel the nature. It really would help them pick up few tricks in life.

Every day is moving so fast that no one realizes how fast we are growing grey. Take the example of yourself or some of your friends. What's their favorite pastime? Most of them would be tweeting that they had pizza, turned left from Big Ben and much more. Some would be busy just idling in front of Facebook refreshing their profile page to find more comments or busy copying from some online sites to paste some philosophical thoughts in Facebook.

All these social networking websites are just great and it helps us to get connected with all those dear and near ones which we once felt we lost them with time. This will again help you bring back your old soothing memories and might help you stalk someone you always wanted. But is it worth sitting in front of it and refreshing whole day? Or say 4-5hrs? You create Save Tiger cause on Facebook and your friends say...Yeah!Save tiger buddy. I support it and 100 others say, this rocks!, but end of the day...are you saving any tiger at least one in your whole life? How you think given a chance you would save a tiger? You can have discussion forums and discuss about real issues and find solutions but when will you act upon it? It is equally important that we adults learn how to effectively use all these technical wonders blessed upon us. When we were kids we all had a hobby and now we think we don't have time to chase it when we can actually do wonders. We feel a hobby is too silly and its more cool to be on Facebook all the time. You can find save nature, save trees and plants in your social networking sites and can find millions of people on it. We could actually save trees and plants if we really decide to come out of our virtual world and do it in real.

We should live to create memories because memories are the only thing that is going to be with you when time comes calling. We need to connect with nature, people and feel them in real.

All compartments seem to be filled with dreams and hopes. You could see 100’s of people boarding from different stations filled with plans and hopes, some good, few bad and many evil. I am off to visit my family to have fun time with them for a week after which I would return to Bangalore and get back to work. Hope all the good dreams of all those nice people in this Island Express gets true. The train was parked in platform 3 from the time I reached there around 8 p.m. I was actually shocked to see that some women were attracting people into the dark compartments due to no lights given until 9:15pm. These women were making sounds to get attention by needy men. I found few guys going in too since almost all others waited outside the trains until the lights came. These women and guys were swallowed by darkness when railway police came for rounds.

I had been wondering what India really possess like those oil rich countries. As everyone out here would think, "Yeah, it really is talent". But our discussion is not on talent right now. What about making money from public for something that they won't digest and neglect to sure? That is to mint money from traffic rules. Idea might seem to be crazy but it really would do wonders.

Have a look around yourself and you would see few hundred riders everyday not following any rules or with vehicles with no valid documents and much more including stolen ones. Every state government could generate few million Rupees if the traffic police really start doing their job rather than just looking alone for people with vehicles registered out of state as in the case of Bangalore. If you look at the amount of people not wearing helmets on every other road you would understand how much money we are talking about. Not following lane rules, over-speed, not respecting old riders, not following traffic signals, cutting one ways, smoking while driving a public transport vehicle, spitting on bike riders from bus, parking in no parking places & much more. All these seem to be a common sight and part of life here in India. We believe that this cannot be corrected and better left alone. This is the attitude we as a nation needs to change for the development of this country. Couple of days back, I took Mysore Road towards Kalasipalayam. I encountered block for around 20mins to get past few blocks. I was all the while thinking lot of people or vehicles out here might be the problem. I was shocked to see what the real problem was. On one side of the road itself there was two lanes of vehicles parked; note that it is the Mysore Road which is busy throughout the day. Apart from this illegal parking; there are street shops on the main road leaving a whole track behind them & selling towards the center of the road. I could see policemen coming in bikes from other direction when it was a one way track on either side. They came to shop banana leaves for dussera. Then there was bike parking which was in two layers on one side & again promoted by policemen. Three policemen stood next to the signal talking while vehicles were going from all directions neglecting in the signal on such a critical road.

We citizens of India should not stop ourselves from expressing what is really wrong and coming up with solutions which can not only correct the system but also create a better environment for future generations. Imagine our traffic police going to get stricter and make people really follow the rules. Do you think the current police force in any state in India can handle the volume we are speaking about in case of vehicles and drivers? I would say never! This makes it a clear case of under staffed groups. Now why are they really understaffed? It could be because rulers or governments don't take it as a priority right now. But what if they really understand how much they are going to generate in fines, will they recruits more traffic policemen? Still not sure, since that’s how India works.

Consider that we have enough staff; do you think they would stick to the big plan and make it happen for government to generate revenue from fines? It needs to be seen as it happens to be frank. But what if government keeps a commission system based on the revenue they generate legally with no complaints from riders? Will it work? It can also work negatively where people are troubled n fined for no reasons. As I write this, I think we need to think of express judiciary systems which we lack.

We as a country needs to revisit the laws and regulations written in mid-1900 and rephrase or customize it based on current century. This step needs to be considered at some point of time by every country. Why not we Indians pioneer it? Many of our laws seems to be out-dated and neglecting the technology growth all around the globe. Last day I happen to fill indemnity note for the Railways and still found a column caste in there. The only thing they wanted me to write was name, age, father's name, caste and profession. I understand without proper scrutiny it would be impossible to remove the caste from Indian forms and law books. But something that we can definitely do right now is to make it an optional column. Any citizen of India should be given rights to fill in caste only if he needs to utilize the privileges that governments provide for the underprivileged. But otherwise he can opt not to fill caste if he finds it unsuitable based on his conscience.

We really have a long way to go and we definitely needs to work together as a nation forgetting the diversity and also demolishing the selfishness in us.

India greeted me well as expected with it's notoriety. My days in Kerala went fine with no troubles or hassles to be cherished. It all started once I landed in Bangalore. Any mention about Bangalore nowadays starts with autorickshaw's and their pilots. Anytime you want to go somewhere or other, let it be morning, noon or midnight, rates are all in hundreds. I felt the pain of getting looted in bright daylight. I would like to narrate to you the following incidents that happened to me first hand in garden city with more dust than flowers.

I had received 5/7 boxes sent in cargo from Singapore and two more were to reach. The delivery guy called Sooraj my buddy n house owner's phone and asked for the route. After failing to reach home in 45mins from a 10mins distance where they were when it all started. Sooraj called them back. This time they changed their tone and asked Sooraj to get to where they were since it's we who want the cargo boxes according to them. The fact of respecting and doing once duty seems to be long forgotten here which was proved true again and again by auto's. This daylight looting made me force my dad to send my bike to Bangalore in train after booking parcel. The parcel reached Bangalore on 16-March-2011. Myself and Sooraj went to grab the bike by spending Rs.150 since most other auto wanted Rs.200. After reaching there, we came to know that we need to submit the original parcel booking slip here in Bangalore to take the bike. How on earth does this kind of parcel booking work where the sender has to courier the parcel slip separately? More fun was waiting for us. Every hour I have to pay 10Rs. until I get the bike. I asked them the logic of such a model for which they just laughed.

The only other way to get the bike was to get a stamp paper of Rs.100 and get the indemnity note typed on that and submit it. The night shift guy never told us that this was required. He said come next day morning and get the format of what need to be put in the bond. Next day morning to my amusement the lady sitting in the same desk where I met the first person pulled out a peforma and asked me to use it. I went to court to buy a bond after long fights with 3-4 auto drivers. I stood in queue to get the form and later again to pay the amount and submit the form after filling it. They said to me it will take 1hour to give the bond which tested my nerves. I waited there looking at them for 1 hour and finally got it. Later got the matter typed with the help of typist in court complex and returned to railway station. My autorickshaw charges in two days rounding railway station had reached Rs.500+ by now. I went to the 1st platform office from where they redirected me to 4th platform and again back to 1st platform. Each time carrying my new helmet and 1litre petrol hoping to take my bike out from there. Later they directed me to an office around 1Km far from railway station where I had to walk all the way. It was around 1:30 pm by now. While waiting for the bond in the court complex, I felt depressed and sad looking at Subhash Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr.Ambedkar staring at me. Felt is this what they really wanted India to become? Will this kind of irrational rules and corrupt progress get us in the summit?

After reaching the parcel shelter, they asked me to bring surety to sign on the form and also they required two witness. I told them that they bike is on my name, I have the registration card in my pocket. Original insurance, my driving license and my pan card. Why on earth do u require two witness and surety for me to take my own bike?
For which they replied this is a rule passed in parliament and if you have any compliance go and tell there. I enquired whether there is anyone who really can help me to file a suggestion/compliant. This made them smile and tell, why not you try depty.Station Master even though nothing will happen they said. Then asked me to write to commercial railways head in Bangalore and whole office was laughing at me. Later I asked them how can someone have original receipt for a parcel sent on his or her name before the parcel reaches in train from a different state. For which they said, it's the rule and no one questions it! Wow, what a way to set rules which guarantees minimum of Rs.240 for late charges to Railways. I felt helpless but accepted the fact that this is how India works and went home hoping to get back with original receipt tomorrow.
Now are you interested to know how to cut your queue to get a platform ticket? It seems to be sold out of the STD booth opposite to the railway station in Majestic for Rs.4 when the original price is Rs.3. I came to know when I the booth guy refused to give me change for Rs.5 and asked if it's really platform ticket for which you need this, he can give me the ticket. I had no idea it was Rs.4 until he took it.
On 18 March, 2011, I received my bike just by showing the original parcel slip which my Dad had earlier send through airbus driver on same day morning. They didn't even check any documents, just the slip was enough. Imagine what if we had kept the receipt in the same bike while sending! I am very pleased by the fact that there was no bending rules from either side and no bribes involved. Seems like it's really getting better in that front. My total autorickshaw and fine for taking it late went more than Rs.1000+.

There was another incident wherein the DTDC courier guy asked me to pay Rs.250 for a mobile which was worth not even Rs.100 to be send. This is because my mom had forgotten to carry her mobile and we didn't want to risk sending her brand new mobile but she still needed one since she was in hostel. Since my bike is there with me now, hope I don't need to fight auto uncles often.

Dreaming about IT had been the buzz in India for the last two decades. India makes people think it as Indian Technology rather than Information Technology. The growth story throughout the world for IT always was linked to India or Indians. Let me respect the fact that, the real fire took off in US in 1960s. Indians always made it big in all parts of the world for everything linked with science and technology. All of you know the education in Asia and especially India from 20th century focussed on creating industry ready people.The workforce creation which were the hybrid versions of the seeds once sown by the imperialist countries on their colonies still going strong. The brain rich geniouses from mammoth universities of India migrated to Western world considering the riches they could enrich their lives with, rather than staying loyal to a small developing nation. You all would take this as a case study for brain drain, but I would consider it as a test dose of Indian brains to the Western world. These are the guys who really played a pivotal role in the growth of India. These sample sachets in human form did perform past anybody's imagination. This might have made people think what a group of them can do for us which started it all.

My generation was never brought up to fit into IT world since it was a novice subject back then. The world now sees India as an IT hub. India is doing top class business in IT & IT-ES services bringing back the wealth to India in the form of dollars which was once looted in the form of gems. A job well done to all those big IT companies of ours. You could find that at least 4 out of 10 new IT companies coming up in North America has something or other to do with an Indian. Mostly started by Indians, sold to others by Indians, or employs Indians, or OUTSOURCES their work to India. What is outsourcing? Outsourcing just means to obtain services from another person or an organization often used with the term subcontract. In plain words it just as simple as getting your job done by somebody else for a cheaper expense. Imagine you have a job and you don't want to do it but still want the money. Maybe you lack expertise or brains or interest. But you still want the money. So how can you achieve that? There comes outsourcing to help you out. You find someone who can do the same job for cheaper amount for you and you just take the difference to your wallet which would still be thick. Is this commission business? Yeah, to an extent it is. But why to India? You can find an IT company in almost every street of Bangalore and most other parts of India. Again, why is it coming to India?

Most of my IT employed friends would be clear on the Onsite-Offshore model by now. So how does that work? For my non IT readers, let me put it in simple words. You place one guy(or many based on profit) to face the customer, get to know the requirements firsthand. While you have a whole team waiting out there in offshore in India to take details from this guy facing customer. This offshore(local) team in India does the job for the customer abroad while they are seated here in India. So is this model effective? It might be otherwise maynot survive so long. Or it would have survived due to the absence of any other models, which itself could be a good subject to explore if it tickles your interests. For a customer this model works, because they get the benefit of Indian brains sitting in India building it for them taking Indian Rupees while they pay in dollars. The communication is so easy due to this global medium called English and almighty Internet. Again it works out cheaper for them since it is outsourced! I don't want to explain how IT works and help you in starting a business. If we rethink this again, did I say Indian brains working taking Indian Rupees? Yeah, I did. This is what it is all about. The IT companies charge the customer based on their profit margin, business model, business strategy and much more and ofcourse considering what they need to pay for their team in Indian salaries which is cheaper than employing someone abroad due to the cost of living in India. But is that true?

You really think the cost of living is low in India? This is the real problem which is going to hit all sectors but for now lets focus on IT. It will bang hard on IT doors maybe faster than it once knocked on Indian doors. The cost of living is going higher and higher. This makes people in India expect more from every company. There are a lot of companies who pays that based on their profit margin and everybody on earth can't work for that company. This fact forces expectation to rise to those verticals where there are really no limits. Imagine that the business is still the same, customer is still the same, outsourced Indian/foreign company is still the same. The change is only with the employee or the workforce who has a bigger expectation now. This goes to an economic condition where demand is more but supply is less. Companies want people but there are very few grooming out every year to fit into their monetary bracket due to the industry ready education model which would forget IT if the workforce considers better profit elsewhere. Finally different companies succumb to this pressure where if they don't provide service due to the absence of workforce, somebody else will. This makes them start paying employees more. This is a kind of business model that can go crazy and bust in no time due to competition. Now the situation is employees happy, companies losing profit(still manageable), clients happy and business goes on. I think this is all gonna get to a limit where employees not happy(thumb rule: man is never happy with what he has), companies not happy, clients/customers unhappy and business fails. So does that mean IT is going to end forever?

That never means IT business will stop, it just means time for other countries who can provide cheaper labour due to their living conditions and good command on English would take up India's role in IT. Does that mean it was not really Indian brains that made the difference. Yes, it might have been to start off but not anymore. If not complete but at least, a big chunk of it will go out of India due to this. Can expect some Indians to go to that part of the world to find a living too but never to reduce their rising expectations which had already hit the roof. Again it goes on, it really is a vicious cycle and we are just in the middle of the first cycle. And again it goes on...

The advent of IT in India can be viewed as modern day colonialism which we had welcome with both hands. This emergence of MNC's in India had brought us jobs and money but that was the same thing industrialism gave us. Our forefathers fought for us to get freedom and now we are trying to boast of being a MNC colony.